"If you chop down all the rainforest and planted Melaleuca, my feeling is that they wouldn't be able to find those islands anymore."

He adds that tourism could also impact upon the clownfish's ability to smell its way home.

"Reefs with islands on them should be targeted by reef management because they become (places) that people use, and there's usually a limited land area on islands, which quite often is modified," says Jones.

Jones says the team is continuing its research into clownfish to identify how far they are swept out to sea when they are larvae, and whether they also use other cues to help them find a home.

"Are they maintaining themselves nearby and smelling their way back home, or are they getting taken much further away and using a whole variety of means to find their way back?" he says. "There are still a lot of unanswered questions."